


Sweet Child of Mine

by MissLittyKitty



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Humor, Mystery, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-10-12
Packaged: 2018-05-31 05:53:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6458521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLittyKitty/pseuds/MissLittyKitty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Something is going on in the small city of Newtown in Northern Germany. As Mina tries to get to the heart of it, she receives unexpected help in form of two rather well-known hunters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: In celebration of having finished my term paper, I thought I’d share my first ever Supernatural Fanfic with you. It’s a multi-part story, just so you know and I’m not really sure in what season to place this since the setting is in Germany but I’m thinking later seasons.   
> A big thank you goes to @oriona75 and @for-the-love-of-dean for beating. Thank you so much.

Giggling, the young woman clung to the man’s arm and fiddled with his tie before her grip tightened and she pulled him to a stop.   
“Are we even allowed back there?” she questioned, lifting her gaze up to his, her eyes open wide and the pupils dilated due to the limited amount of light. 

“Don’t worry, sweet cheeks. No one will bother us,” he told her soothingly. He smiled down at her and started again along the path, leading her farther away from the castle into the small park. Soon, the gut bouncing beat of the bass died down to a buzz in the background, their gravel-crunching steps the loudest sound around them. Crickets played their music in the nearby bushes and the occasional trill of a nocturnal bird echoed through the warm, humid night. They walked in companionable silence, taking in the beauty of nature in the dark. His grip around her waist was almost too warm but she didn’t want to be apart from him. His other hand was stuffed into the pocket of his dress pants, fingering the small, velvet box. 

“It’s so beautiful,” the woman exclaimed as the moon broke free of an accumulation of wispy clouds, bathing the surrounding trees, bushes, and flowerbeds with light. She proceeded to smile brightly and looked up at the man. 

“Not nearly as beautiful as you are,” the man replied and leaned down to peck her lips. She hummed against his mouth, trying to deepen the kiss but something had caught the man’s attention. He lifted his head away from her, staring straight ahead and as she followed his gaze, she noticed that they had reached a part of the park that was fenced off due to construction. She felt the muscles in his arm contract beneath her grip. His breath accelerated and a shiver traveled through his whole body. 

“Honey, is everything alright?” she inquired and gently rubbed up and down his arm, trying to shift his focus to her. But he ignored her, only asked, “Do you feel that?” 

“No, I don….” She trailed off as she continued to not feel anything but what she saw made her own muscles tremble: she could see his breath; thin, cloudlike puffs of air left his lips with every rapid exhale. A feeling of dread settled in her stomach and she tugged on his arm. 

“Come on, we need to leave,” she said, her voice shrill with an urgent edge to it. Yet, her companion didn’t move. He seemed frozen to the spot, his whole body shaking. Once again she yanked on his arm, trying to get him to move. And then the screeching started. Screeching so loud, she had to let go of him to cover her ears. Her eyes widened as some kind of mist began to drift toward them from behind the construction fence. It billowed and shifted, closing in on them; seemed to flicker in the moonlight. All the while the screeching continued. The smoke swirled and twisted; shifting ever closer to her companion until it hovered right in front of him. And suddenly, the smoke seemed to solidify and a small, grey-white boy appeared in its place. 

Her eyes blown wide, she distinctly heard another noise join the screeching but gradually realized that it was her own, high-pitched scream. Trembling uncontrollably, she backed away, stumbling with her heels on the gravel and twisting her ankle. She fell to the ground only a few feet from her companion and the smoke boy, tears streaming down her face; sobs wrecking her body and her breathing so hard, her lungs burned in her chest. And still, despite everything, her eyes darted to the man before she reached for one of her shoes.

“Get away from him,” she yelled and threw the stiletto at the apparition. It missed but she succeeded to draw the smoke boy’s attention; he looked at her, his mouth forming a lopsided, toothy grin and shook his head. Then, he lunged forward, toward the man and started clawing at his chest, ripping the tie and shirt to shreds within the blink of an eye. Her own screams mixed with his, as the apparition drew even closer to the man and disappeared inside him. For several seconds, there was total silence. Then, with a gruesome cry, the man moved, stumbling and lurching forward to the stone wall which surrounded the whole park. He fell to his knees, brought up his hands and started to claw at the stones, crying and pleading to be let out. His movements became frantic, what remained of his shirt was drenched with sweat. And throughout all this, he continued to scream that someone let him out; calling out for his mother and demanding to know what he had done to deserve this. 

The woman stared transfixed at the scene before her, unable to move; unable to think or to feel. She saw how her companion relentlessly clawed and scratched on the wall ripping away the tips of his fingers. Blood was running down his hands and forearms and still the man kept scratching, screaming. 

As soon as it started, it stopped. She saw his torso move with the heavy breaths he took; saw him staring at his bloodied fingers. And before she even had the chance to think about calling out to him, he lunged forward again. This time ramming his head against the wall. She screamed, yelling for him to stop. But he didn’t hear her, hammering his skull against the stone again and again until he eventually slumped down, unmoving; lifeless. Dead. 

\----

Sighing deeply, the dark haired woman climbed out of the old VW Bus, moving her head from side to side to work out the crick in her neck and proceeded to raise her arms over her head to stretch her back. Sitting for seven long hours behind the wheel had left its mark and she was more than glad that it was over. 

With a yawn, she closed the door and walked around to the passenger side, opening the back door. She shrugged into a thin jacket, retrieved her long, dark braid from underneath the fabric and reached for a small pack, looping the strap over her head. A pat to her left pocket confirmed that her phone was in place and after locking the car, she stuffed the key into the right pocket of her skinny jeans. 

Turning away from her set of wheels, she paused taking in the rest of the parking lot. Only one other car was parked there, nothing out of the ordinary. Her gaze swept over the gates set into the stone wall and on, up to the castle, only a small part of it visible from her vantage point. Right behind the gates, the beginning of a gravel path was visible. And although it wasn’t yet fully dark, the few lamps she was able to see were already lit. As she knew, the path led slightly uphill since the castle and surrounding battlement had been built on and into a small hill near the end of the 16th century. 

She sighed, shaking her head and headed right, away from the gate. Once she left the parking lot, she followed another dirt path which led all the way around what once had been part of the city wall of the small fortified settlement Nova Civitas – now known as Newtown. She passed by a small playground, completely abandoned at this time of night and left a small cluster of trees behind. Despite the nearby residential houses, it was eerily quiet and she had to suppress a humorless chuckle. A man hitting himself to death on a stone wall would do that to a town. 

Up ahead the path forked, curving away from the wall on her right. The left arm ended in shrubbery right at the foot of the wall and straight ahead the construction fence was unmissable. She squinted at the wall to make out the fence inside the park, a good 9 yards above her. When she was certain she knew where the above fence started, she approached the lower fence. 

By now the sun had fully set and in the shadow of the stone wall, there was next to no light. She quickly retrieved a flashlight from her shoulder bag and directed the beam toward the fence, searching for a way to get behind it. 

It took her less time than she had anticipated and after clambering over some bushes and loose rocks, she squeezed through a gap between the last part of the mobile fence and the wall, emerging into an alcove. With the fence in her back, she gazed up at the stone wall towering over her and surrounding her on three sides. The construction work was apparent right in front of her. Part of the wall had been torn down and as she illuminated it with her flashlight, she could make out an old, winding staircase. The relief of a head and the stone figure which had marked this place were gone. 

A shiver coursed through her as she remembered the legend. At the same time, she felt beads of sweat trickling down her back, pooling at the base of her spine and wetting the fabric of her shirt which in turn started to cling to her skin. 

“I probably shouldn’t have come alone,” she whispered to herself before pointing the flashlight at the wall to her left, scanning the rough edges of the sandstones. In a lot of places, moss had gathered whereas in others corrosion had turned the stones dark and cracked them, creating a multitude of crevices and gaps. A lot of the wall was covered with ivy vines. She puffed out her breath, shaking her head. Checking the whole surface in its various stages of decay and coverage would take forever. 

“I definitely shouldn’t have come alone,” she mumbled, reached for her bag and was about to drop it to the ground when she heard something: a high-pitched buzzing…no, more like wheezing. It died down as soon as it had first appeared and she quickly turned off the flashlight. She could hear footsteps softly crunching the gravel and the strange wheezing sounded again. Or it would’ve been strange if she hadn’t heard it before: the distinct sound of an EMF-meter indicating an electromagnetic field. And this meant she wasn’t the only one checking out the crime scene. 

Still inwardly debating if she should make herself known or not, a low voice quietly called out, “Dean? I think there’s something here” and her eyes widened. German hunters she had somewhat expected; maybe Doris had found someone else for the case after all. But someone speaking English took her very much by surprise. 

More gravel crunching sounded and then a second voice inquired, “EMF give off anything?” in just as hushed a tone as the first.   
“Yeah, kinda. Right here it seems,” the first voice explained just as the wheezing started off again.   
With a sigh and a shake of her head, she called out, “Uhm, yeah, guys. Not to dampen your spirits or anything but that could just as well be me.” 

When two heads appeared from behind the wall at exactly the same time, she was hard pressed to not burst out laughing. For several seconds, they just stared at her until the second voice called out, “What?” 

“Cell phone, dude,” she explained. “And I’ve got a tablet in my bag as well. So, whatever you’re reading up there...it’s probably me.” 

The amused chuckle that slipped out at the sight of them exchanging a shocked glance died in her throat as a beam of light hit her directly in the face. Squeezing her eyes shut, she brought up a hand to shield herself from the brightness.

“Watch it with the light, man. I’d like to keep my vision intact,” she exclaimed and turned slightly, stepping out of the beam’s path.   
“Sorry,” came from above and the beam shifted. “You being here caught us a little off-guard.” Daring to look again, she followed the beams bouncing progress across the ground and up the lower part of the wall. And as it did just that, something caught her attention. She squinted again, bringing up her own flashlight and switching it on to try and find the place she had just seen. 

“Who the hell are you?” the second voice wanted to know but she waved him off, taking a deep breath. 

“Let’s save that for later, boys. I think you maybe want to see this,“ she replied, motioning with her free hand for them to come meet her. 

It took them a little over five minutes to find her. They looked at each other for several seconds, a million questions evident on both sides. Yet, true to what she’d just said, she skipped over introducing herself and indicated the spot on the wall that had gotten her attention. 

While the taller one of the two men pointed his own flashlight at the place of interest, the other squatted down in front of the wall. A minuscule amount of black, sticky looking goo seemed to seep out of a crack between two stones. 

“Ectoplasm?” the one holding the flashlight asked and the kneeling man nodded. 

“Yeah but it’s a very small amount which is…weird,” he replied and got up from the ground, turning to the taller one who lowered the light and asked, “So no vengeful spirit then?”

“Oh, it’s definitely a spirit alright,” she interjected without thinking and both men turned to look at her. Just then she realized how much taller both of them actually were. They towered over her by at least a head each and feeling their intense, questioning gazes made her want to shrink to the size of a bug. Or better yet, become invisible. Swallowing hard, she forced herself to get a grip and sighed. 

“I’ll answer all your questions, guys but could we maybe head back to the parking lot first?” she asked, pointing in the respective direction and added in an undertone, “I would just hate having to fight a ghost tonight.” The two men shared a look before the taller of them nodded and motioned for her to lead the way. 

One after the other they left the alcove and took the short walk in silence and she felt herself relax with every step she took away from that place. When they reached the lot and she was standing next to her car, she breathed a sigh of relief and unlocked the bus. She took off the shoulder bag and jacket she wore, reaching for three bottles of water and turned to the two hunters, offering the drink. The taller one reached for it, thanking her with a small smile. The other one just shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest, his jaw set and eyes narrowed. 

Shrugging her shoulders, she tossed the unneeded bottle back into the bus, opened her own and took a long gulp to moisten her dry throat. 

“Alright,” she said, a little out of breath from her drink and leaned back against the side of the vehicle. “Ask away. Oh, wait. First things first: my name’s Mina. Mina Decker. And I obviously already know that you two are hunters.” With that she raised an eyebrow, awaiting their questions. Once again they exchanged a look, the slightly shorter one motioning with his head in her direction. 

“Well, my name’s Sam and this is Dean,” the taller one said and her eyes widened. 

“As in Sam and Dean Winchester?” she exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing in Germany?” 

“That’s…complicated,” Sam replied and Mina shook her head. 

“Yeah, on second thought, I don’t really want to know,” she told them, a small smile curving her lips what Sam mirrored. Dean suddenly jerked forward and spat out, “Right. - Who the hell are you? Why do you know about us? Oh, and cut the crap.” 

His rudeness caught her off guard. She gaped at him, her eyes wide and for a moment the ability to speak left her. A second later, anger welled up in her. She had a shitload of other stuff on her mind and didn’t need to add this to her plate. 

“Hey,” she boomed, pushing away from the bus and putting her hands on her hips. “I’m not the one full of crap here. There’s no need to be crass. A normal question does the trick, okay? I told you I’d tell you what you want to know.” 

He sighed, pulled an absolute bitch-face and held up his hands. “Fine, sorry. I’m cranky today, okay? The past few days haven’t exactly been a vacation. Shit happens when one second you’re in Kansas and next you’re zapped to the land of frickin’….”

“If you say Schnitzel and Sauerkraut, I’ll kick your ass,” Mina interrupted, pointing a finger at him. “We never – never – eat that stuff together. That’s just…yuck.” 

For several heartbeats they stared at one another, storm gray holding deep green and Sam looked from one to the other and back. Dean’s jaw was set and his expression held a hardness Mina had never seen on a man his age. Yet, due to their whole exchange, she couldn’t help the smirk creeping onto her face and eventually saw Dean’s lips curve into one of his own. 

“I wasn’t going to say that,” he said, a full smile now lighting up his face. “But it’s good to know. I’ll keep it in mind.” 

“Yeah, right,” Mina snorted, raising an eyebrow and shaking her head. “Anyway, I believe you’ve asked me some questions. You know who I am already. And I know about you because…well, believe it or not even over here…in respective circles that is, you’re quite the legends, too. Both of you.”

“So, you’re a hunter?” Sam inquired. 

“I…used to be but I’m not anymore. Not really anyway. I’m…well here they call me a…resourcer, so to speak. I find information, track down locations, ingredients, victims, connections… whatever…the hunters call me up and I can either help ‘em over the phone or I drive to meet them.” 

“In all of Germany,” Dean stated. 

“Pretty much, yeah. As well as Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Latvia,” Mina interrupted herself and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. “That reminds me, don’t bring up Latvia.” She briefly closed her eyes and shook her head before elaborating, “Very simple Rugaru case gone bad.”

“So, why are you here now if you don’t hunt anymore?” Sam wanted to know. Mina met his gaze for a brief moment before moving back to her bus and sitting down in the door opening. 

“Actually, I’m not sure I can really answer that question,” she gave back and heaved a deep sigh. “Not yet anyway.” She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, listening to their footsteps as they approached. When she opened her eyes again, she noticed their shoes in her line of vision and lifted her head. 

“My…someone I know around here – she does what I do just not on the road. She called me this morning and demanded I take this case, claiming no other hunter was available. So I packed up and drove all the way down here from Frederikshavn, Denmark. Got here about an hour ago.”

“Us, too,” Dean said. 

“Ahh, so I guess that’s your rental over there?” She glanced toward the other car in the parking lot, an old model Ford as she now noticed. 

“Well, yeah,” Sam answered and when their gazes met, Mina knew they hadn’t really rented it. She nodded her head and after just a moment of hesitation, she got up and walked the few steps over to the car. It was more than just a little dented in several places and the registration badge on the license plates had been scrubbed off. And, of course, there was no inspection badge either. Taking in the overall pitying state of the car, it was surprising they had even made to here from…from wherever they’d been. This could lead to another problem along the way, she surmised and stood. What she was about to do hadn’t been on top of her list at all, yet in these circumstances, she didn’t see any way around it. Rubbing a hand over her face and eyes, she sighed deeply and turned back to the two hunters. 

“Listen, your car’s gonna attract attention sooner or later. It’s pretty late and I haven’t eaten all day, so...why don’t you follow me to my…contacts’ farm and we’ll talk there while having some food?” she proposed, looking from Sam to Dean and back.


	2. Part 2

Part 2

The headlights of the battered Ford reflected and broke in her side mirror and Mina sent out a quick, silent prayer that no one would notice them. At least, it was already dark and the car ride would only take about ten minutes. 

As her thoughts turned to the imminent meeting, she blinked rapidly. A feeling of dread settled deep in her stomach and despite the still warm night, she felt a shiver run down her back. How long had she been dancing around the inevitable? Phrases of long past conversations – heated arguments - flitted through her mind and a thousand and one possible things she could say swarmed her all at once. 

With a huff and pulling a face, she turned up the volume of the radio. She didn’t want to think about any of this right now. Ten minutes, or rather five, were hardly enough to come up with something to say to the person who’d lied to you for most of your life; someone who you’d last seen 10 years ago. Hell, not even a drive once around all of Europe would be enough for that. 

Belting out the lyrics to the song playing, she took the next turn in the road a little too sharply. The actual town now behind her, she sped up and after a couple minutes driving, she signaled left. A short dirt road later, she put her car in park in front of an old, weather-bent barn and turned off the engine. 

Climbing out of the car, she motioned for Dean behind the wheel to drive around her bus. While he did so, she jogged the few paces to the barn. Opening the huge doors, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the empty space that greeted her.

The headlights illuminated the interior of the barn as Dean halted to let Sam get out. Mina let her gaze wander over the junk littering the walls: unused farming equipment, a littered workbench as well as various things she couldn’t identify. She even spotted a rotting lawn mower in a corner and lots and lots of different sized boxes. Nothing had changed, she thought and couldn’t help the small, reminiscent smile. 

It vanished when she heard a door slam and saw Dean approaching the back of the Ford. Sam had already opened the trunk and was collecting a backpack and duffle bag. She waited until Dean had collected his things as well, and with Sam’s help, she closed the doors. It took her a few minutes to get her own stuff and with the guys following, she started toward the main house of the farm. 

They didn’t get far. After only a few steps light flooded the space between barn and main house and a dark, rough voice called out in German, “Halt.” 

Heaving a sigh, Mina did as she was told and, out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Sam and Dean do the same. Shoulders sagging, she lifted up her hands and called back, “It’s just me, Doris. No need to worry.” 

Silence. Then, “Mina?” 

The incredulity, the sheer and utter disbelief was evident even in only this one word. The voice which had been so rough and strong and demanding only seconds before held such an amount of uncertainty and fragility, it actually tore at Mina’s heart. She squeezed her eyes shut, pressed her lips into a thin line and quickly shook her head to keep herself from either running to the speaker or bursting into tears. Or both. 

Swallowing hard, she said, “Yes, it’s me. Can I…can we come in?” 

There was a flicker of movement and next second the front door opened. A person roughly of Mina’s build appeared in the doorway and the unmistakable shape of a shotgun was visible. Mina shared a look with Sam and Dean and upon the latter’s’ nod, they started toward the door again. 

“Who’s with you?” the person at the door asked just as they had almost reached it. Now close enough, the person turned out to be an older woman. Yet, before Mina could reply to her question, she caught a splash of water right to the face. A millisecond later, spluttering and snorting from beside her as well as Dean bursting out, “Jesus, Granny. What the hell?” told Mina they had gotten a load, too.

“I’m not apologizing for playing it safe, young man,” the woman replied, tucking a plastic spray flask into the pocket of her apron and shouldering her gun. “And I prefer Doris over Granny.”  
Mina swallowed the sharp words on her tongue and instead said, “Alright, Doris, this is Sam and Dean Winchester. They’re...we met at the castle. Sam, Dean – the contact I was telling you about: Doris Steinbach.” 

“Donnerlüttchen,” Doris exclaimed, shaking her head. “I never imagined getting to meet even one of you.” 

“Yeah, you and me both,” Dean muttered under his breath what only Mina and Sam seemed to have heard. Unfazed, the older woman said, “Well, come on in.” 

She stepped back and opened the door wide for them to shuffle inside. Mina watched them piling their bags in the entryway and following Doris’ instructions to the living-kitchen area. The sound of the door closing behind her set her into motion. She dumped her bags next to Sam’s and was about to turn toward the kitchen when she felt a hand on her elbow. Turning around, she came face to face with Doris. She’s grown old, Mina thought as she took in the harsh lines on the woman’s weathered face. Crow’s feet had formed around her eyes, her cheeks had hollowed and the hair – still worn in the same tight knot at the nape of her neck – had become almost white. 

“Mina,” Doris started but she held up her hand and shook her head. The expression on Doris’ face hardened, her jaw clenching and Mina heaved a sigh. 

“Please, let’s save it for later, okay?” She motioned with her head in the direction of the kitchen. “The case is more important right now.” Averting her eyes, the older woman contemplated Mina’s words before giving a sharp nod and wordlessly walked away. 

Mina let her head drop back, her unseeing gaze trained on the ceiling. All in all, this had gone down better than she’d thought. Considering the likely chance of Doris refusing to let them in, this was as good as it got. For now. Straightening and rubbing a hand over her face, she groaned as ten years’ worth of frustration, hurt and anger threatened to bubble to the surface but she forced herself to shake it off. Now that she was here, there was time for that long overdue talk later. Willing a neutral expression onto her face, Mina took the few steps to the kitchen.

Sam and Dean had taken a seat at the breakfast nook and both had an open bottle of beer in front of them. Doris was busying herself at the kitchen counter, slicing up boiled potatoes, tomatoes, and some salad.

Clearing her throat, Mina approached the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and a glass and sat down at the table across from Dean and adjacent to Sam. 

“Okay, let’s get down to it,” Dean said as Mina poured out some water. “You seemed awfully sure when you said it’s a spirit we’re dealing with. Why is that?”

She gazed at Doris who had stopped her chopping and turned to find Mina’s gaze. After a quick nod, Doris set the knife down and left the room while Mina turned back to Dean. 

“Well, there is a kind of legend…or myth concerning the castle or rather the battlement wall. That Castle – Castle Heimfried, to name it correctly – with its surrounding park which is called the Amtsgarten, it was all built between 1573 and 1584 under Duke Erich II.”

“Wait, some of that sounds familiar,” Sam interrupted forcing Mina to look at him. He smiled somewhat sheepish and added, “When I came upon the news of the incident this morning, I tried to find out more about the Castle and grounds but well, my German is none existent and the web translator didn’t make a lot of sense of it either.”

“And you still took on the case?” Doris asked as she reentered the room and placed a rectangular book on the table. “Without knowing if it even was anything?”

“Oh let me assure you, Doris,” Dean chimed in. “We knew something was definitely going on. No one commits suicide by splitting his head open on a wall unless he was driven to do it by…something.” 

“Good point,” she replied, indicated the book and went back to the stove to continue preparing their meal.   
Mina took up the book, leafing through the first few pages until she found what she was looking for and turned it so that both Sam and Dean could see it. 

“Okay, this isn’t true to scale but this is supposed to be the concept old Erich came up with in his time,” Mina said. She then drew a wide semi-circle around the arrow-shaped battlement wall with a fingertip. 

“The castle was built on the ruins of an old Burg on a hill which at that time was surrounded by marshland. Now it’s assumed that during the construction of the part of the wall we’ve just been to,” here she pointed to the upper middle of the sketch where the arrow seemingly had a barb, “the wall collapsed multiple times. No matter what the masons tried, the wall just wouldn’t hold. The Duke pressed for completion and a foreign, well-travelled mason suggested a human sacrifice had to be made to appease the earth spirits. And so they did. It’s said that they talked to the poorest woman in town who had to raise her son by herself. They offered her a lot of money in exchange for using the son as a sacrifice. When the woman refused, they locked her up and took the boy anyway.” Mina paused as she felt a shiver run down her spine and quickly took a sip of water. 

“They killed the boy?” Sam inquired and Mina looked up at him, shaking her head. 

“Worse. According to this well-travelled mason, only a living child would suffice. So they brought the boy to the construction site, placed him inside the wall, handed him a…a Wecken – a small loaf of sweet bread – and…walled him in.” 

“Jeez,” Dean exclaimed, “I’d be one hell of a pissed off spirit if someone’d done that to me.” 

“Yeah,” Sam agreed, “I guess so. But…what I don’t get is why now? It’s been what…roughly over 400 years and the spirit decides to just come out now? That doesn’t make sense.” 

“You’re right, it doesn’t,” Doris said, throwing a quick look over her shoulder at the brown haired hunter before putting the sliced potatoes into one of the sizzling pans. 

“Even if you take into consideration that they started renovations on that part of the wall just last week, it still doesn’t make sense. Those walls have been pulled down and put up again numerous times over the centuries. The stones in place right now only date back to about 1920. And yet, does anything we do ever really make sense?” She heaved a sigh, turning in a circle to give each of the three a look. 

“It doesn’t,” she answered her own rhetorical question while adding small patty-shaped meatballs to the second pan. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not real. Whatever set off that ghost doesn’t matter. That we put a stop to it does.” 

“True,” Sam agreed. “And we definitely know something’s going on.”

“Exactly,” she replied, still busying herself with stirring the food. “When I heard about it early this morning being reported as a possible suicide, I knew something was up. As Dean said, dumbest story I ever heard, someone beating himself to death on a stone wall…suicide. By 9 o’clock I’d gathered enough information to know where exactly this…incident had taken place. So I called Mina.” 

“But Mina told us she’s not a hunter anymore,” Sam said, his eyes on the white haired woman. “Why would you call her? You surely have other contacts.” 

“Well,” Doris sighed, turned around and dropped her gaze to the floor for a brief moment before her gaze found Mina. “I am so sorry I didn’t tell you on the phone…but the witness…it’s someone you...once were really close to.”

A sense of foreboding gripped Mina, settling deep in her stomach and making her break out in gooseflesh. She gasped and her eyes widened as she stared at Doris, shaking her head. Not wanting it to be true. It couldn’t be true. But there was only one person still alive - not counting Doris - fitting that statement. 

When she eventually felt able to speak, only two words left her lips, “Not Isa.” 

The short nod was answer enough for her to know it was true. Turning her head, she noticed Sam and Dean’s questioning gazes on her and it became awfully clear that the questions so far had only been the tip of the iceberg. 

Swallowing hard, she said, “Isabell was... We used to be....” 

She interrupted herself, shook her head and covered her face in her hands for a moment. And it dawned on her that to really shed light onto this whole business, she had to reveal so much more of her life story than she had planned on. 

Taking another deep breath and lifting her gaze, she first noticed Dean who had straightened up in his seat, leaning his elbows on the table and looking at her expectantly. Her gaze switched to Sam who nodded and gave her an encouraging smile, sympathy, and concern showing on his features. 

Returning his smile, she breathed deeply and started again, “I grew up here in Newtown. Isa…Isabell…the witness…she was my best friend in school. But when I turned 15, I…I started to hunt with…with…someone. She made me cut off the friendship. To protect Isa. I haven’t seen her since but…yeah, I knew her once. I guess that’s why you said I had to come, right Doris?” 

“Yes. We need to know what she saw.” Seeing the look of confusion on Dean’s face, Doris smiled without humor and asked, ”How’d you go about gathering information?”

“Well, fake badges and IDs come in pretty handy,” Dean replied, making Doris shake her head. 

“Yes, but those aren’t of any use to you here. There’s no FBI, no Rangers. Police here have no badges.” 

“Didn’t think of that,” Dean replied and added, “Man that sucks big time. How do you get information at all?” 

“Oh, don’t worry,” Mina cut in. “We’ve become resourceful. Why do you think people like me and Doris exist? I’ve got some fake IDs but mostly it’s just posing as a reporter, a distant friend of the deceased or the likes. And once in a while, a case involves a police officer or other law enforcement personnel to make some contacts.” 

“And while having a few contacts is good, having someone with ties to the witness makes everything a whole lot easier,” Doris finished and turned back to the stove.

“Yeah, maybe not,” Mina mumbled and dropped her gaze to the table, hoping no one had heard. Her finger followed a distinct scratch in the wooden surface as she heard Dean commenting that something ‘smelled very damn good’ while clattering told her Doris was putting the finishing touches to their meal. She didn’t know why all of this surprised her so much. It was a given that the past had an uncanny ability to catch up with you, right? It had always been just a matter of time.

Mina sighed partly with frustration, partly with relief that indeed, no one seemed to have caught on to her mindset; until she felt a hand on her arm giving her a gentle squeeze. Her eyes shot up to find Sam looking at her. 

“I’m fine,” she said out of habit and saw his lips curve into a crooked smile. 

“I know that kind of fine, believe me,” he replied, his smile softening. “Just…if you need to talk…I’m right here, okay?” 

“Thank you, Sam,” Mina said, once again returning his smile. She knew she should avert her eyes right now but there was something about his deep hazel gaze rendering her unable to do so. She felt as if he somehow understood what was going on inside her without him even knowing the whole story. Then again, if only half of everything she’d heard about the two brothers was true, he probably could understand. 

“Alright, who wants some food?” Doris’ voice broke the spell and they all accepted the plates and bowls Doris handed out. 

\-----

Night had settled over Newtown bringing with it a gentle breeze. It lessened the lingering humidity of another hot day, driving a few scattered clouds across the otherwise clear sky. The moonlight created bizarre patterns and shadows on the ground and the young woman cursed her bad luck as she sprinted along the dirt path. 

Today of all days it just had to be her turn to take the late walk with their dog. Today of all days it just so happened that no one was there to accompany her. And, of course, today of all days that blasted dog had to decide to run away. And if all of that wasn’t bad enough already, that stupid animal had to run right toward the castle; where just last night someone had killed himself. 

Just the thought sent shivers down her spine and she shook her head, once again calling out for her dog. As she crossed the bridge over a small pond filled with water from the river, her hurried footsteps sounded hollow on the wooden planks.

Leaving the bridge behind her, she called the dog’s name again, slowing her steps just enough to listen. Rustling and a faint bark told her that at least she was headed in the right direction and she picked up her pace again. 

Every few steps she called out but other than some more rustling and the sound of her own, heavy breathing there was nothing. To her right, the battlement wall loomed and to her left the smaller arm of the river gurgled steadily. 

She felt the fabric of her clothing stick more and more to her sweaty skin and a stitch was growing in her side, making her slow to a walk. Up ahead, the path started to divert to the left, trailing around the eastern arrow barb before taking a turn to the right and running parallel with the wall again. To her right, a small stone staircase led up to the castle grounds. And at the foot of said stairs sat her dog right next to a park bench and a street light. 

“Thank god,” she spit out harsher than she had wanted to as she approached the dog and clinked the leash into place on the harness. 

The streetlight flickered, making her jerk upright and her dog started to whine. She looked at the animal, cowering down and slowly inching toward the park bench to hide. The flickering stopped and she sighed. 

“Oh come on you little chicken,” she coaxed, tugging on the leash. But the dog kept on yowling. She shivered and froze in place. The light started to flicker again, sharper this time and within seconds, it went out. Her chest rose and fell with deep breaths. The hairs on the back of her neck and on her arms stood on end. Cold seeped into her, forcing almost violent quivers from her muscles. 

She never knew what hit her. In the blink of an eye, she was blindly running, charging toward the river, not caring - not noticing that she dragged the poor, struggling dog behind her. 

Tears were streaming down her face and her lips were moving, crying out a name every once in a while before continuing to mumble incoherent words. As soon as she reached the riverbank she spread her arms wide, the leash slipping from her finger. The terrified dog pelted back to the bench, whining and yowling. 

Standing there at the edge of the water, a peaceful expression came over her face and she smiled. 

“I’m coming, my heart,” she whispered and jumped.


	3. Part 3

Part 3

“You sure you’re alright, Doris?” Dean asked. His gaze left her steering wheel gripping, slightly trembling hands and settled on her face. 

“Fine,” she replied but Dean saw how she clenched her jaw, prompting him to a lopsided grin. 

“Uh hmm, I see that,” he said, a sarcastic undertone to his voice. “I’m telling you what I told Mina last night: why don’t you cut the crap, huh?” 

He shifted in his seat to be able to study her profile better. And when, after several minutes, there was no answer, he added, “Listen, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. But I sure as hell know there’s something the matter with you and Mina.” 

“And how is that any of your concern?” the white haired woman wanted to know, shooting him a sideways glance, eyes narrowed and one eyebrow raised. 

“If it keeps you from doing the job right, it’s my concern,” he calmly explained and propped his left elbow up on the backrest of the car seat. “As you not so nicely told Mina half an hour ago, we’re all in this together now and sometimes someone just has to take one for the team, right?” 

Doris rubbed a weather-beaten, wrinkled and still slightly trembling hand over her face and sighed deeply. 

“I know I was harsh with her but I had to. Being back here…it’s already taking a toll on her but it can’t happen right now. She was right last night in telling me that the case is more important. I’ve been waiting 10 years to see her again, to talk to her again. I can wait a couple more days,” she said, her voice sounding tough but Dean sensed more than heard a tremor in the way she spoke, belying that her words didn’t match what she felt. 

In spite of that, all he said was, “10 years is a long time.” 

“It is,” Doris replied. “But that’s all I’m gonna say. It’s Mina’s story to tell.” 

“Yeah, that and…I believe we’re here,” Dean agreed, his eyes widening as he took in the assembly of police officers, firefighters, EMTs and a growing crowd of bystanders clogging the street leading up to the castle. 

“Holy shit, what’s going on?” he exclaimed.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll find out soon enough,” she replied and followed the direction of the officer who had taken over controlling the traffic at the intersection. She steered her car, an old Borgward, into a nearby side street and it didn’t take them long to find a parking spot. 

Upon their return to the castle grounds, the throng of people had grown remarkably. Two police officers, with the help of several firefighters, were trying to rope off the area to keep onlookers at bay. 

“I’ll make a quick call, see if I can find out more,” Doris told Dean who nodded and watched her, getting some distance between herself and the murmurings of the crowd. Then he turned, surveying the people nearest to him and approached a woman he estimated to be around his own age. 

“What’s going on?” he asked her in a quiet voice. The redhead faced him, surprise etched into her features, probably because he’d spoken English. He could literally see the wheels turning in her head which made him raise an eyebrow. Eventually, she smiled briefly before she directed her gaze back to where it had been: beyond the roped-off area, toward a small river, as he now noticed. 

“They are saying someone drowned,” she spoke in a hushed voice, the thick German accent unmistakable. Dean’s eyes widened. 

“Do you happen to know where?” he asked, pointing toward the bridge. “Was it right here?” 

“I don’t know,” she replied and shook her head. “I…I heard that it was…more back…uh, nearer to where the Amtsgarten is?” 

Dean nodded just as he felt another presence beside him. From out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Doris who motioned with her head for him to come with her. He quickly thanked the redhead and followed Doris. 

Once they were out of earshot of most people, she said, “I got a hold of one of my contacts. A woman, late 20s, died in the river last night, around midnight.”

“She drowned?”

“Not exactly, no. She broke her neck,” Doris said. “The medical examiner believes she hit her head on a rock on the riverbank which matches how the jogger found her this morning: only her head and part of her shoulders were actually in the water.”

Dean rubbed his neck and briefly closed his eyes. “Damn, I don’t really know what to make of that but I’m pretty sure there is a connection.” 

“I agree,” Doris said. “I made my contact swear to pass on any relevant information as soon as he gets the autopsy report. Sadly, there’s no way to take a look at the scene but he described it to me and we might be able to go there tonight. So for now, I suggest we stick to the original plan: try to get access to the regional archive.” 

Upon Dean’s nod, Doris turned and set off in the direction of the nearby parking lot but Dean took hold of her arm, stopping her.

“Two things, Doris: this contact of yours – he’s with the local police?”

Hesitating only briefly, the white-haired woman nodded. “Yes, he is.”

“Why then did you make Mina come here? Having a contact like that….” 

“My contact is reluctant at best. I’ve helped him once, a long time ago and he’d rather forget it ever happened. It’s hard to convince him to cooperate. But what’s even more difficult is that Isa doesn’t know one of the detectives knows about the stuff we deal with. Whatever she saw, I’m certain she wouldn’t have told anyone so far. Not even her mother. Mina and Sam have got a hell of a job getting her to talk, believe me.” 

“Alright, fair enough,” Dean said, heaving a sigh and took out his phone. “I’ll give Sam the head’s up about the second victim and then we’ll work on accessing that archive.” 

\-----

Mina got out of the car and stared up at the house from across the street where they had parked her bus. Doris had found out where Isa lived with her late partner, Dominik Schneider. 

She noticed Sam coming to stand beside her, saw his encouraging smile but refused to meet his gaze even when he asked, “Are you ready to do this?”

“No, I’m not,” she replied honestly, shrugged her shoulders and put her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “But there’s nothing for it, right? This needs to be done. So we better just get it over with.”

And with that, she started forward. Her legs were heavy, feeling as if she was bench-pressing 500 kilos with each step. As far as Mina could remember, there was only one other instance that had been as hard to do as this: ending the friendship with the exact same person she now had to talk to. And as of right now she had no idea how she was going to convince Isa to talk to her; let alone trust her enough to tell her what she had seen.

A ringing sound registered in the back of her mind just a second before she felt a hand taking a hold of her arm, stopping her walk. Snapping out of her thoughts, she lifted her gaze and found Sam next to her. He still held her arm and brought his phone to his ear with his other hand. 

“Dean?” he spoke out loud and Mina’s eyes widened. She watched as Sam listened for what couldn’t have been more than a minute when his posture changed. He unconsciously tightened his grip on her arm while his eyes widened and seemed to lose their focus. 

“This is bad, Dean,” he said, briefly closing his eyes as he continued to listen and Mina continued to watch him. “Yeah, we’re already there. – Uh hm, we will. We’ll try.” He let his phone holding hand sink to his side and released Mina’s arm as his eyes fixed on her. 

“There’s been another death. On the other side, the east side of the…I think you called it the Amtsgarten. A woman was found on the riverbank early this morning.”

“Oh shit,” Mina said, taking a deep breath. “Is it connected to Isa’s boyfriend?”

“Doris and Dean think so because that woman didn’t drown. Her neck was broken.” 

“Jeez, make it even more urgent, why don’t you?” Mina spat out to no one in particular, shaking her head and found a slight blush coloring her cheeks upon meeting Sam’s eyes again. 

“I’m sorry but all of this is already putting so much pressure on me…and now it’s even more pressing that we get some usable information….” His hands settling onto her shoulders made her stop. She held his gaze, took in his soft smile. 

“Mina, listen to me. Yes, it is important to get this information. And yes, time is not really on our side here. But stressing over those facts won’t help either. So…take a deep breath,” he encouraged and once she had, he added, “and now you need to tell me how we’re going to play this.”

“Okay,” she said and forcing herself to do calm and collected, she added, “Okay. I really have no idea what’s going to happen when we go up there.” She nodded toward the house, the short walkway leading up to the three front steps just a few paces away. 

“I might need to improvise so…just…follow my lead? I’ll try and translate whenever I can, okay?” 

“Okay, that’s fine,” he replied and Mina was sure that when he moved his hands, he would remove them from her shoulders. Instead, he slid them to her back and pulled her close. Despite the surprise, it took her only a split second until she wound her arms around his waist and rested her forehead against his shoulder, her hands finding and curling themselves in the fabric of his shirt. 

His hold on her tightened, his steady heartbeat seeping into her and for just a moment she felt calmer than she had ever since arriving in Newtown. It wasn’t that everything just suddenly disappeared or that it lessened the weight she had to carry; no, but she felt this gave her the kind of strength she needed to keep going. 

“Thank you,” she murmured, eventually pulling out of his embrace and finding his gaze again. “I had no idea I needed this.” 

“Hey,” he said and smiled. “Being on the road for a while without anyone...it gets pretty lonely, huh?”   
“Yeah, you could say that,” Mina replied and giggled. “I’ve lost count of how many conversations I had with myself. Oh, and arguments.”

Sam chuckled, “If it makes you feel better: I do that, too even though I’ve got Dean with me most of the time.” 

They smiled at each other for a few more seconds and without saying anything more, they turned and started toward the path. Sam let her lead the way, shortening his stride to stay behind her and once they took the three steps, she briefly felt his hand at the small of her back. 

Meeting his gaze, finding the courage – that little push – she needed, Mina rang the doorbell. The seconds ticked by and Mina felt the nervousness settle in again the longer they waited. So much so that she automatically started fiddling with the hem of her shirt; only becoming aware of it when Sam placed a hand over her own, stopping her movement. And he effectively kept her from fiddling again by wrapping her hand in his own, holding on tight. 

In that same moment the door opened, a blond woman appearing in the doorway. Her feet were bare but despite the heat, she wore a dark sweatshirt and long sweatpants. Her hair was in total disarray, strands of it sticking out at various angles. The skin of her face was unnaturally pale, making the dark circles under her eyes stand out in stark contrast. And those deep blue eyes, holding a heart-wrenching sadness, widened in utter shock upon Mina turning to fully face the woman. 

“No,” the blond whispered in German. “It can’t be…no, no, no.” Frantically she shook her head, stumbled backward as Mina took a step toward her. 

“Isa…I.”

“No,” Isa bellowed, interrupting her and shook her head again. “You…after all this time…and especially right now…you don’t get to…just go back to all your…your crazy stuff.” 

The expression on Isa’s face was furious, her eyes narrowed, brows drawn in and her jaw clenching and unclenching rapidly. But Mina chose to ignore it because underneath all of that she sensed something else; something that confirmed what they all suspected: Isa had seen something but couldn’t make sense of it; something that was robbing her of much-needed sleep and was slowly driving her out of her mind. 

“Isa,” Mina tried again, more urgently this time. “What did you see?” 

The blond gaped at her, shook her head again and made a grab for the door, trying to shut it but Mina was quicker. She put a foot forward, brought her hand up hard against the wood of the door and fixed her gaze on her ex-best friend. 

“Isa, I know what I told you all those years ago – it must’ve sounded crazy…hell, I must’ve sounded crazy to you. I get that, I really do but…I know you saw something the night before last. I know you did and I really need you to tell me what it was. Please, Isa.” 

Tears were running down Isa’s face, her shoulders shaking and her hand dropped from the door handle to her side. 

“Please, don’t...don’t do this to me, Mina,” she whispered, lifted her eyes and the broken, devastated expression on her face nearly broke Mina’s heart. Without thinking, she reached out and took hold of one of Isa’s hands, cradling it between both of her own. Isa flinched at her touch but didn’t pull away. 

“I am so, so sorry; for what you had and still have to go through. And I truly wish I didn’t have to but… someone else died last night, near the castle grounds. Please, I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t important. I need to know what happened so that I can put a stop to…to whatever made Dominik and the other woman…whatever drove them to kill themselves.” 

Isa stared at her for what felt like hours but eventually she nodded once, with tears still wetting her cheeks. She invited them inside and led them to the kitchen. Mina introduced Sam and afterward watched Isa bustling around in her kitchen, making tea for herself. 

Mina recognized her struggle, noticed how she shook her head several times and she appreciated how hard it had to be for Isa to wrap her head around everything she had been told. 

When her tea was ready, Isa provided some water and joined Mina and Sam at the table. She didn’t speak right away and the two hunters didn’t pressure her; gave her the time she needed to find her voice. 

What she then told them was bloodcurdling, terrifying and it pained Mina having to force Isa to relive this moment. But Isa, apparently having set her mind to it, went through it all admirably well; until she reached the part after the grayish smoke had risen out of Dominik’s lifeless body and dissipated. 

“I crawled over to him and half way there I…I found…,” she interrupted herself, her voice breaking and tears started to roll down her cheeks. Her breath came in harsh gasps and her voice was faltering as she said, “He…he was going to propose to me, Mina. I…I found the small box…it...it must’ve fallen out of his pocket during….” 

Here she broke off, succumbing to her sobs, her body shaking and the tears just falling and falling. Not hesitating, Mina jumped up and wrapped her arms around Isa, her own tears silently running down her cheeks. 

In a hushed tone and with as few words as Mina could, she relayed the last information to Sam who drew in a sharp breath. Together they moved Isa to the living room, making her lay down on the couch and seeing the state she was in, Mina coaxed her to call someone so that she wouldn’t be alone. Only when it was certain that Isa’s mother would be there within the next ten minutes did they leave. 

Sam was already out the door and Mina was about to follow him but Isa’s feeble voice held her back, “Mina?” 

Isa’s pale, tear-drenched face appeared as she sat up on the couch. “Will…will you let me know when it’s over?” 

“I will,” she replied. “I promise. Now get some rest, Isa.” She saw the blond woman nod before she dropped out of sight and with a quiet sigh, Mina left the house, closing the door firmly behind her.


	4. Part 4

Part 4

Lunch was a quiet affair. Sam and Mina reported what they had learned from Isa after which Dean told them about their findings and that they were waiting to hear from Doris’ contact again for more information on the second victim. 

As soon as they had finished the meal, Doris asked Sam to help her with something, leading him out of the kitchen. 

“What’s she up to?” Mina wanted to know, throwing a sideways look at Dean. 

“Probably getting started on deciphering the old records we found in the archive,” he replied and got up from the table. 

“Decipher?”

“Yeah, Doris said it’s written in an old kind of German cursive and…well, aside from me not speaking any German, I could hardly make out the letters. So I guess it’ll take a while.” 

“Great,” Mina groaned. “And what are we supposed to do?” She stood, piled the plates and carried them over to the counter.

“Wait, I guess?” Dean replied and shrugged, a lopsided grin on his face as he opened the dishwasher.

“And I’m so awesome at waiting,” she whined making Dean chuckle. 

“Yeah, me too,” he agreed and they cleared the rest of the table in silence. Not wanting to sit still without anything to do, Mina said she needed to clear out her bus and Dean offered to help. They let Sam and Doris know and headed outside. 

Her faithful transportation had seen better days, both from the inside and the outside. Mina opened up all the doors to let the occasional breeze drift through and got to work in the back while Dean inspected the car with interest. 

As he plopped into the passenger seat, his gaze turned to her and his eyes widened seeing her drag out her bedding. “You sleep in here?” 

“Yeah, usually it’s easier to find a campground than a motel, so most of the time I crash here in the back,” she explained, putting her sleeping bag and several blankets into a basket and proceeded to place it on the ground next to the bus. Dean nodded and made to turn away but she felt his gaze on her as she started to sort through a pile of books which had been lying in a box next to her mattress. While it felt good to occupy her hands, it wasn’t enough to completely keep her mind from returning to the events of this morning, creating a jumble of emotions inside her. 

“Hey, uh,” Dean said interrupting her thoughts which came as a welcome distraction and she looked up at him, noticed that he had repositioned on the passenger’s seat to be able to see her better. “Sam mentioned how rough the meeting with your friend was. How are you holding up?” 

With a forced smile on her face, she said, “And there I thought you might take my mind off of this but…never mind. - You know, it’s kind of ironic. I had to end the friendship to protect Isa from being hurt by all those things that go bump in the night.” 

She plopped down onto the mattress, setting the book she was holding aside and found Dean’s gaze. “I haven’t seen her, been near her or talked to her for almost 20 years but apparently, it wasn’t enough. Isa has still been hurt by exactly those things I had meant to protect her from.”

“Mina, I know I don’t really believe in coincidence, but this…what happened to Isa’s boyfriend and what she had to witness…it could’ve happened to anyone. It’s a classic case of ‘wrong place, wrong time’,” Dean reasoned, sending her a half-smile. “You can’t blame yourself for that.” 

“Wouldn’t you?” she asked but regretted it the moment the words were out of her mouth and she noticed his scowl. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. And while it’s probably true that it was purely bad luck, part of me just can’t get over how devastated Isa is.”

“Mina,” Dean said again but she waved him off and averted her gaze which was why she saw Sam step out of the front door and approach the bus. Her eyes widened and once Sam had reached them, she asked, “Did Doris find anything?” 

“No, not yet. It’s slow going, one letter at a time. But she didn’t need my help anymore so I thought you might like a drink,” he said, holding up three bottles of beer before handing them out. “What are you talking about?” 

He sat down on the floor of the bus, leaned his back against the passenger seat and pulled up his legs while both Mina and Dean took a long drink of the cold beverage.

“Isa,” Mina then answered his question. “Dean asked how I was holding up.” 

“Yeah, and you did a good job of not answering my question at all,” he said, lifting his eyebrows which made Mina laugh. 

“Yup, I’m good like that,” she mumbled, a small smile still in place. “The thing is…as much as it hurts me to see Isa like that, it also motivates me to get this ghost as quickly as possible.” 

“Yeah well, no can do at the moment,” Dean said. 

She ran her hand slowly up and down her neck, heaved a deep sigh and said, “I just wish there was something productive to do. This just waiting around is getting on my nerves.” 

“Well, we’re going to check out the second scene in a couple hours,” Sam said. “In the meantime, why don’t you tell us about what the deal with you and Doris is?”

Mina’s head snapped up and she stared at him, her lips slightly parted which she promptly pressed shut as she noticed. 

“Oh, come on,” Sam went on. “You can’t tell me you’re surprised that we noticed. The tension around the two of you is so thick, you can almost see it.” She shook her head, took in a deep breath at the same time.

“It’s kind of a long story,” she said quietly, shifting her gaze to Dean and back to Sam. 

“Hey, it’s not like we’ve got a shitload of stuff to do,” Dean stated. Sam agreed with a nod and the older hunter added, “And I can’t say I’m not curious.” 

“Uh-hm,” Mina said. “Curiosity killed the cat.” 

They all snickered at Mina’s words and fell silent. Sweat trickled down Mina’s back and she brought the cold bottle up to her neck as she thought about where to start and what to tell them. She pulled her legs up onto the mattress and crossed them, releasing a breath through her nose. 

“I grew up here,” she eventually said. 

“Yeah, in Newtown. You said so last night,” Dean chimed in but Mina shook her head. 

“No, I meant right here. In this house. I came here when I was five. Before that, I lived with my Dad, Philip Decker. He was a mechanic, had his own garage in a town much like this about 15 miles north of Newtown and we lived in an apartment above the shop. I don’t remember much of him but I’ve got this.” Here she pointed to the wall above a small counter. Sam reached over and carefully removed the two photos Mina had taped there. 

The first one showed a small girl of about five being carried by a man in his late twenties. Both were smiling brightly into the camera and behind them a car on a lifting platform was visible. 

“One of his employees took it shortly before my Dad died,” she continued and watched Sam as he studied the picture. Two or three times he would look up at her then back at the photo until he finally handed it to her. 

“You look a lot like your Dad,” he said, a smile on his lips. “Even more so now.” 

“Yeah,” she agreed and blinked rapidly, her finger tracing the face smiling up at her from the photo. “He is younger in that photo than I am now. He died when he was only just 30.”

“Did he die of…you know, a normal cause?” Dean asked his voice subdued and he didn’t really meet Mina’s eyes. 

“No, he didn’t,” she replied thickly. “But I didn’t know that at first. See, that night…I wasn’t there. I was having a sleepover with a kindergarten friend, so….”

“In this other picture,” Sam interrupted, indicating the piece of paper he was still holding and turning it so that both Dean and Mina could see. 

“It’s clearly you in the middle and on your left is Doris, right?” he pointed out and at Mina’s nod, he added, “And the woman on the right?”

“Doris’ daughter. Her name was Theresa,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper and she brushed a stray tear from her cheek. 

“Was?” Dean inquired making Mina nod. 

“She died 10 years ago,” she explained, releasing a soft huff resembling a somewhat humorless laugh. “Curtesy of a shifter. - She’d been raised as a hunter and was one her whole life.”

There was silence and Mina dared to look up at the two hunters. Dean had turned his face away from her, seemed to be deep in thought. Sam, on the other hand, met her gaze dead on, a look of utter compassion on his features. She noticed he had turned toward her as he reached for her hand. It felt tiny when he enveloped it in his and gave her a gentle squeeze. 

“She brought me here, Theresa. I grew up with them although Doris is the one who raised me. Theresa was mostly gone on hunts which they never kept from me. It wouldn’t have been possible anyway, with hunters stopping by or calling for information.” She paused for a moment, felt her hand tremble in Sam’s hold. Taking a deep breath, she tried to collect her thoughts for what she had to tell them next. 

“I heard a lot of things even during the day but most when I should’ve been in bed. I hid underneath the stairs, eavesdropping on the conversations in the kitchen. And one night, I was maybe 7 or 8, I learned how my Dad really died: not because of an accident at the garage, as they’d told me but at the hands of a vampire. Or rather…the vampire had already turned and fed him by the time Theresa arrived on the scene. And while I know now that she had no other choice, back then I really hated her.” 

“She killed him,” Dean stated, his voice subdued and Mina nodded, wiping at her eyes with the back of her free hand. 

“The next two years I hated her, didn’t talk to her and sometimes even screamed at the mere sight of her; until I became witness to the savageness of a vampire. It was accidental. I shouldn’t have been there but I was. And I saw the ferocious, predatory look of hunger on his face.” She shuddered with the memory, shook her head. “Later, I wanted to apologize for my behavior but Theresa told me I shouldn’t which I didn’t understand. Not until that night 10 years ago…after Theresa had died and I forced Doris to tell me everything.” 

Ashamed of the tears now rolling down her cheeks, she bowed her head, unable to keep looking at Sam. She pulled her hand out of his, brought up her knees and wrapped her arms around them as she whispered, “They never told me; never mentioned anything about it until it was too late. I grew up calling them Doris and Theresa, not…not Grandma and Mom.” 

“Theresa was your mother?” Sam’s questioning voice was gentle, just as the hand that settled over her own which she had clasped on her shins. Mina found his gaze and unable to speak, she simply nodded her head yes. 

And it was as if everything she had bottled up deep inside her came rushing to the surface; sadness, hurt, anger. It all washed over her, prompting fresh tears spilling from her eyes. She pressed her forehead against her knees as her shoulders shook with silent sobs. 

Part of it was for her father who’d had no clue about those things that go bump in the night and had unwittingly crossed a hunter’s path. Another part was for Theresa and for what she had been forced to do to the man she’d loved. But mostly it was for herself; for the space inside her, that was filled with pain, frustration and anger instead of the love, shelter and warmth of a family that should’ve been there. 

She composed herself enough to speak, the sobs dying down and without lifting her head, she said, “That night, after Doris told me everything…I needed to get away from this place; needed some space. So I packed up and left. I drove for hours, not stopping, not thinking. Just driving. Days passed without me really realizing it, I actually have no recollection of that time. But one day, I kind of woke up and noticed that a whole week had gone by. I knew in my head that I had to go back; sort this out. But….” She snorted, lifting her gaze and found both, Dean and Sam, looking at her. She shrugged. 

“As you can see, I never did. I couldn’t bring myself to face it, so…I stayed as far away from this place as I could for 10 long years.”

“What were you afraid of finding by coming back here?” Sam asked. He hadn’t removed his hand from hers and once again gave them a gentle squeeze. Mina pressed her lips into a thin line and briefly closed her eyes. 

“Well, when I left I had just learned that the family I had always wanted had been within my grasp the whole time had they only said something. But they never had. And as the days, weeks and months passed, my mind allowed for only one conclusion: they never wanted me…they never loved me. So I stayed away out of fear to find out that what my mind told me was true.”

It surprised her when Dean gave her a small smile and placed a hand on her arm. He ran his other one over his neck and shook his head, an endearing little laugh escaping his lips. 

“I can’t believe I’m gonna say this with my brother right there to hear it….” His gaze fixed directly on her. “But anyway, you’re wrong in thinking that Doris doesn’t love you. She does. Trust someone who’s a master of keeping his feelings under lock up.” 

To her surprise – and probably Dean’s, too – Sam nodded. “Dean’s right, you know? Both, Doris and Theresa, they never told you for the same reason you ended your friendship with Isa: to protect you; to not give the bad guys any more leverage than was already there. In a way, it makes sense.” 

Mina rested her forehead on her knees, mulling over what both of them had said. And yes, she had to admit, it was a reasonable argument. 

“I have to say, you picked up some smart boys,” a dark, rough voice said, making Mina’s head snap up. They all started but Dean so much so that he literally jumped in his seat before he swore, “Damn it, Doris. It’s hard enough to stay alive in our line of work. It’d be nice if you didn’t speed things up by giving me a heart attack.” 

Sam and Mina chuckled at his antics, at the same time marveling at Doris’ ability to creep up to them. Doris, unable to completely hide her grin, stepped forward and placed one hand on Sam’s shoulder, patting Dean’s arm with her other. 

“Sorry, handsome. Won’t happen again,” she said and focused on Mina. The mirth in her eyes and on her face faded away, giving way to something else: a deep, heartfelt sadness. 

“What Sam and Dean said, Mina…it’s the truth. I’ve loved you from the moment I knew about you. And Theresa…she always loved you. She loved you so much that she chose to give you away; that she wanted for you to have a normal life, grow up happy and carefree with your father. She never wanted this life for you, knowing what it would do to her or you if…if something happened.” 

She saw the way Doris’ eyes glazed over, those eyes that were so much like Theresa’s. With a deep sigh, Mina nodded then shook her head. 

“Believe me, I understand where you’re coming from. I really do,” Mina said quietly, taking the time to carefully choose her next words because she didn’t want to inflict pain. She just wanted to say it out loud. “But...something still happened, Doris. Be it to Dad, to Theresa or to Isa. I…I’m just thinking that…. I’ve spent so much time feeling lonely, unwanted and unloved…. Wouldn’t it be better to spend the time we have together by loving and being loved?” 

“Would it? In my experience, it only makes everything harder,” Doris replied. 

“It’s hard either way. What’s the difference between loving someone in secret to protect that someone as well as yourself from pain and openly loving someone, sharing, celebrating that love? While it doesn’t make it easier to handle if something happens, it would make the time spent together count all the more. And isn’t that worth it?” 

Doris held Mina’s gaze and the latter knew she was seriously contemplating her words. When she didn’t speak, Mina smiled and said, “Just think about it.” 

“Alright, enough of this mushy-gushy stuff,” Dean said and got out of the car. “All that emotional crap’s made me hungry.” 

“Dude, it’s basically just an hour since we had lunch,” Sam stated, silently laughing at his brother with Mina and Doris joining in. 

“I don’t care. I’d love me some pie,” Dean whined. Doris let go of Sam’s shoulder, took a few steps back and looked at each of the three in turn. 

“Sadly, no pie here but how about you go get some cake while I continue to work on those records. I’ll have coffee ready when you get back,” she suggested to which everyone agreed. Sam and Mina got out of the bus and closed it up, then followed Doris to the house. Once there she reached for the laundry basket Mina had brought along and put it inside. She returned with the key to her Borgward and handed them to Mina. 

“Not a scratch,” she threatened, making Mina smile, lean forward and place a kiss on Doris’ cheek. When she pulled back, the shadow of a smile lingered on the older woman’s lips. They held each other’s gaze and both gave a short nod before Mina turned around and walked over to the vintage car where Sam and Dean were already waiting. 

As Mina backed up the car and steered it toward the main street, she knew that they had only just scratched the surface of their differences; that there still was a lot to talk about. But the tension between them had lessened a little which in turn had lifted her spirits. And for now, that was enough.


	5. Part 5

The sun was still in the sky, albeit pretty low when they left Mina’s bus in the parking lot and made their way through the park. Dean carried a duffle bag holding all necessary equipment. 

They crossed the street and Mina led them along a short path with a small pond below them and the castle slightly above. A bridge arching over the mouth of the pond was in view the whole time. At the end of the path, they climbed down some stairs and followed another gravel path along the river, leaving the bridge behind them. The castle grounds towered over them on the right, casting drawn-out shadows across the ground. 

It didn’t take them long to find the place Doris had described since it was still roped off. While Dean sat the duffle bag down and busied himself with the EMF-Meter, Mina and Sam approached the riverbank. 

“The water’s pretty low,” he noted, kneeling down to take a closer look at the rubble lining the embankment. “Well, seeing this, it’s actually not surprising that she broke her neck. If she did a full on head dive – presumably from several steps away from the embankment - it’s far more likely for her to hit dirt and rock than water.”

“True,” Mina agreed and ran a hand over her face. “But…I don’t buy that it was a suicide attempt. Look at this: there’s the battlement wall right behind us or the bridges down there which are a lot higher…it doesn’t make sense. And with her dog there? It’s got to be connected to the other…to Dominik.”

“I think you’re right, Mina,” Dean’s voice sounded making both Sam and her turn around. It took them a few seconds to realize where Dean had got to: only the top of his head was visible inside the roped off area. As they approached, they saw him kneeling on the rubble far down the embankment having almost reached the waterline.

“Look what I found,” he said and held up a smudged finger, a proud smile on his face. Mina asked Sam to hand her a flashlight, noticing how dark it had become. She knelt down and once Sam was back with the light, she took a hold of Dean’s hand, inspecting the darkish, gooey-looking blotch. 

“Ectoplasm,” Mina stated and got up.

“Yes,” Dean replied, stood and wiped his hand on a tuft of grass that hadn’t yet started to wither. “And get that: again it was only a very small amount.” 

“So we definitely have a connection,” Sam concluded, reaching out a hand to help his brother up the riverbank. “The only question is how.”

“Exactly, the MO is completely different,” Mina said and more to herself, she added, “Man, I wish we could talk to the dog. I’m certain he could tell us what the missing link is.” 

“Yeah, sadly I don’t speak dog,” Sam chuckled. “But maybe Dean can help you out with that?!” And the taller hunter doubled over in silent laughter. 

Mina’s gaze swiveled between the two brothers, her eyebrows raised while Dean gaped at Sam for a second before he growled, “Hilarious, Sammy.”

He grabbed the flashlight from Sam and took the few steps over to the bag. He met Mina’s very confused gaze.

“Trust me, it’s not half as funny as he makes it look,” Dean grumbled but all his statement achieved was to send Sam into yet another laughing fit and Mina to look even more lost. 

“Dude, you argued with a pigeon and checked out a poodle…if that’s not funny,” Sam wheezed, trying but obviously failing to get his laughter under control. 

Dean stowed the flashlight and EMF away before picking up the bag, slinging it over his shoulder and pointing at his brother. “Yeah, yeah, next time, Sammy, you take the potion and do the spell,” he said. 

“Hey, you offered to do it,” Sam reminded him, a broad grin still on his face and Mina’s jaw dropped. She stared at them, for a moment at a loss for words as the meaning of what they were hinting at sank in. 

“Wait a minute,” she then said. “Are you saying there’s actually a spell for being able to talk to dogs? To animals?” 

At their nods, she exclaimed, “Oh my god! That is awesome.” She beamed at them, her eyes big and a bright smile on her face but it fell when neither Winchester reacted to her excitement. 

“Is it not? I mean, just think about all the things they could tell us,” she tried again and finally Dean cracked a small smile. 

“I’ll give you that,” he replied, “but once the side effects take hold, it’s not so much fun anymore.” 

“What side effects?” 

“Try an urge to play fetch or barking at the mailman,” Sam chortled. “Or, as I already said, arguing with a pigeon who shit on his car.” 

“Hey, some animals are dicks,” Dean explained, adding a mumble of words that sounded a lot like ‘No one shits on my baby.’

And Mina burst out laughing, “Oh what I’d give to have seen that.” 

Dean rolled his eyes, let his free hand slap against the side of his jean-clad thigh and started for the rope, ducking underneath it. Still grinning, Mina found Sam’s gaze, an equally shit-eating grin still on his face. 

‘It was funny,’ he mouthed, making Mina suppress the need to giggle again. Together they walked toward the rope, Sam holding it up for her so that she could slip through before following her. They joined Dean on the gravel path and started to head back in the direction of the bridge. 

The few lights in the area had sprung to life, just enough to illuminate step-long patches on the ground and the first stars twinkled in the dark, cloudless sky. Mina shivered and automatically froze. 

“Guys, do you feel that, too?” she asked in a quiet voice but Dean had already reacted, ripping open the duffle bag. He pulled out a sawed-off shotgun, calling out “Sam” and threw it to him. He caught it with one hand, the round of rock salt thrown by Dean with the other and chambered the round with practiced ease. 

Mina felt something pressed into her hands, noted that it was Dean handing her the bag and watched as he pulled out a second shotgun, readying it with as much ease as Sam had. 

“How are you with a gun?” he asked, nodding toward the duffle bag. 

“Out of practice,” she replied shortly, stuck one hand into the bag and closed her hand around something long, thin and metal. Retrieving the crowbar from the bag, she zipped it shut and stuck her arms through a handle each, carrying it like a backpack. It wasn’t ideal but it would have to do. 

Grabbing the iron pole with both hands, Mina let her gaze wander, noticed that they were almost level with the bench and steps leading up to the Amtsgarten. Just as she was about to speak, the lights started to flicker violently and within seconds went out. 

“Mina, the fastest way back to the car?” Sam asked in a hushed tone, not stopping to survey the area. 

“Up those stairs to the right and through the castle grounds,” she replied, barely able to keep her teeth from chattering, she was shivering so bad. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and her whole skin was covered in gooseflesh. 

As they inched their way over to where Mina had said, she heard her own heartbeat thud in her ears and felt her stomach clenched uncomfortably. She pressed her lips into a thin line, mad at herself that she felt so scared.

And out of thin air, dark gray smoke appeared in front of them, swirling and shifting until it formed into the shape of a woman. She lifted her head and fixed her hollow-eyed gaze at them, her dark hair hanging messily around her shoulders. She cocked her head to the side, a smile splitting her lips and started to glide toward them across the grass. 

“Go, now,” Dean bellowed and they were off, running to and up the stairs, Dean in the lead, followed by Mina and Sam bringing up the rear. 

The steps were wide, consisting of simple concrete blocks set into the earth. Time, weather and the roots of the trees and bushes growing on either side had made them uneven, slowing their flight. 

Mina found herself stumbling several times, underestimating the distance between the stairs, but was able to keep going. Then, on the next to last pair of steps, the sole of her boot caught on the edge of the concrete block and she fell. She managed to brace most of the fall with her hands but had to let go of the crowbar in the process.  
“Mina, are you okay?” she heard Sam’s voice and turned just in time to see him kneel down. One of his hands closed around her upper arm to help her up but her attention was diverted by the ghostly apparition quickly coming closer. 

“Sam, behind you,” she called out. Yet before he had the time to react to her words, Dean’s voice boomed out “Get down”. Sam lunged forward, bowing his head and pulled her with him to the ground, turning so that he shielded her with his body. 

A shot rang out and next second Dean was on the step above them, the ghost having disappeared. “You both good?” 

“Yeah, fine,” Sam replied, releasing his hold on Mina who simply nodded and scrambled to her feet. She reached for the crowbar, her hands and wrists smarting with pain from cushioning her fall but there was no time to worry about it now. 

“Let’s go,” Dean said, once again taking the lead. No one spoke as they covered the last steps and entered the castle grounds. 

Mina’s mind was running a mile a minute. What fazed her the most wasn’t the fact that it had been a ghost. Even if it all had been a long time ago, she had seen her share of vengeful spirits, as well as things a lot worse. No, it was that it had been a ghost in the shape of a woman while Isa had said she’d seen a small boy. Could this ghost take on different forms? Or…were they dealing with more than one spirit? 

Voicing her thoughts out loud, she noticed that they had almost reached the west side of the Amtsgarten. A few steps ahead the path they were following forked to the left and to the right, leaving the wall directly in front. 

“I’ve been thinking about that as well and….” Dean interrupted himself as gray-white mist arose in front of them, coiling and shifting and some seconds later, taking on the form of a boy. He waited, appraising them with watchful eyes and flashing a toothy grin. 

Sam and Dean stood shoulder to shoulder, guns at the ready with Mina next to Sam, the crowbar raised like a baseball bat. She studied the small ghost in front of her: his tattered and torn clothes, the obvious wound on his head, his emaciated appearance and a surge of pity overcame her. 

He started to slide toward them but out of nowhere, a soft, gentle voice called, “My heart” and the ghost boy froze. The cheeky look on his face changed. First displaying the wide eyes of pure shock, it quickly settled on utter sadness. As the small ghost turned Mina could literally see his shoulders slump and noted with widening eyes that another shape emerged. It was the same woman that had appeared to them mere minutes ago. She hovered just beyond the battlement wall, her gaze on the small boy filled with a gentleness that surprised her.

“That answer your damn question?” Dean growled to her right, lining up his gun with the female ghost while Sam kept his trained on the boy. Mina refrained from replying because Dean’s words and movement had drawn both ghosts’ attention. Their gazes turned to them and the woman’s expression hardened as she kept floating just behind the wall. The boy started forward again and Mina just snapped.

She didn’t know what made her do it – maybe it was the sadness on the boys’ face or the way the female ghost had looked at the boy. But whatever it was, Mina let the crowbar clatter to the ground and called out, “No, please don’t.” Along with her words, she moved, coming to stand in front of Sam and Dean and held up her hands. The small ghost stopped again, his gaze on Mina as well as that of the woman ghost. 

“Mina, what are you doing?” Sam hissed. “Get back here.” 

“No.” She shook her head, keeping her eyes on both ghosts. “Something’s not right. Don’t you see? They are not vengeful spirits. If they were they would’ve attacked by now.” 

From out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed how Sam and Dean walked forward, framing her on either side, taking aim at the ghosts again. Therefore, she added a little louder, speaking directly to the apparitions, “Please, don’t hurt us. We want to help you but we don’t know how.” 

Nothing happened. No one moved. The two ghosts kept hovering; Mina, Sam, and Dean kept staring at them. Then, the female ghost gave the tiniest of nods and the little gray boy sped forward so fast they could hardly see what he was doing. He reached Sam but instead of stopping he kept going, running right through him and engulfing him in a billow of grayish mist before he dispersed. 

“Damn it,” Dean yelled and leaped over to his brother, who hand sunken to his knees, breathing heavy. But the taller hunter waved him off. 

“I’m fine,” he said and got to his feet, brushing the gravel off his jeans. “Just surprised. Where’s the female ghost?”

“Gone,” Mina replied, finding the tall man’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Sam. I didn’t expect that to happen. I…I just thought….” Shaking her head, she left the sentence unfinished, turned and picked up the crowbar. 

“It’s fine, Mina. I’m good. He didn’t do anything to me. It’s all good,” Sam reassured her but Dean interrupted, “It’s not all good.” He glared at her as he brushed past. 

“Come on. We need to go now and figure out what’s really going on here.” His commanding tone left no room to argue, not that Mina wanted to. The look he’d just given her had said it all: she’d messed up big time and if anything happened to his brother, it would be on her. As if she didn’t know that already. 

Subdued, she followed Dean, not even the hand Sam put on her shoulder nor the small smile he gave her could lift her mood. She felt guilty, about what she didn’t quite know. About being too gullible? About trying to trust her instincts? About….yeah, she wasn’t sure. Yet, she was certain, she had seen something; had felt it, too. And the way those spirits had acted…. It didn’t fit the behavior of any vengeful spirit she’d come across so far. But damn it, right now she couldn’t put her finger on it. 

Once they reached the parking lot, Mina wasted no time to take off the duffle bag and get behind the wheel. She dumped the bag in the back and retrieved her cell phone from the glove box. Her eyes widened when she saw three unanswered calls from Doris. Dean chose that moment to climb into the passenger seat, leaving Sam to sit on the makeshift bed in the back. 

Not wanting to climb up further on the older hunter’s shit list, she thrust her phone into his hands, saying, “Here, why don’t you call Doris? She tried reaching me three times.” And without waiting for his reply, she started the engine, put in the gear and steered the bus toward the street, deliberately not looking at Dean.


	6. Part 6

Dean made the call but the line was busy. He grumpily stated that they’d be there in a few minutes anyway and turned his gaze to the side window, staring at the passing landscape. 

It was when they had almost reached the town exit that Mina caught movement in the back through her rearview mirror. Furrowing her brow, she called out, “Hey Sam, everything alright?” 

“Yeah, fine just…could you turn up the heat? I’m freezing,” he replied, prompting Mina to scrunch up her forehead even more and Dean to say, “Dude, it’s still like 75 degrees.” He then turned around and froze. Mina caught a look of shock on his face shortly before he yelled, “Go faster. Now!” 

Mina did so without hesitation, stepping on the accelerator until she was going well over the speed limit while Dean unbuckled his seat belt and clambered into the back. 

“Do you have a spare blanket somewhere?” His voice was urgent and Mina told him as quickly and calmly as she could. Letting her eyes shift between the windshield and the rearview mirror, she saw how Dean found what he was looking for and draped it around his brother’s shoulders. Sam meanwhile had started to shiver so much that Mina could see it even in the mirror. He kept pulling at the blanket, trying to feel warm and occasionally saying how cold he was. 

Mina had to force herself to keep her gaze on the street and her knuckles turned white, she was gripping the steering wheel so hard. Whatever was going on, it sounded really bad.   
Once she’d passed the last difficult bend in the road, she coaxed her bus to over a hundred kilometers per hour, counting the seconds in her head until the turn to Doris’ farm came into view. 

Going as fast as she dared on the dirt road and with Dean and Sam unsecured in the back, she finally pulled up right to the front door. She cut the engine, jumped out and ran around to the back door, opening it just as Doris stepped outside. 

“Mina, I tried to call…what’s going on?” 

“It’s Sam,” she said, willing herself to stay calm. “Something happened to him. We’re not sure what.” Dean had managed to get a shaking Sam from the mattress to the door opening and Mina reached out to steady him on the other side. He nearly collapsed due to the violent tremors running through him as he tried to step from the bus. 

With a lot of difficulty Mina and Dean managed to get Sam inside, up the stairs and into bed. And still, he kept shivering hard, his muscles trying to produce the heat his body, for some reason, couldn’t hold. His skin had lost almost all of its color. 

Mina collected every cover she could find from the other bedrooms and returned to see Dean sitting on a chair by Sam’s bed, his head in his hands. As she started to spread the blankets out over Sam’s trembling form, her heart went out to both of them. Dean looked so lost; so worried and she wished there was something…anything she could say or do. Yet, even if there had been, Mina wouldn’t have dared to anyway because she knew Dean already blamed her. 

He proofed her right just a second later when he lifted his head. His gaze landed on her, eyebrows drawn in, jaw clenched and eyes narrowed. 

“This is your fault,” he snarled and Mina averted her eyes, agreeing with him in her head. She finished spreading the last blanket and took the few steps to the foot of the bed. Dean pushed out of his chair, his shoulders squared and rising to his full heights. He was an imposing sight, approaching her with a few long strides and towering over her. 

“We should’ve just shot them and gotten the hell outta there but no,” he thundered, “little Miss Resource had to jump in and ruin it all.” 

While part of her thought he had a point, the other part couldn’t help but feel angered by his words. As firmly as she could muster, she said, “All I did was trust my instincts.” 

“Yeah and look what that’s done to my brother,” he said, the volume of his voice making her flinch. Still, she stood her ground, met his gaze and balled her hands into fists. 

“At least, I had an idea and I’m sure I saw something. What would your course of action have accomplished? We’ve got nothing, Dean. No idea of what’s going on; of why those spirits are here or what they want.” 

“Oh, so now it’s about what they want?” he roared and surged forward, standing so close to her that they were almost touching. He glowered down at her, the light of the room and the emotions coursing through him darkening his deep green eyes. “What do the spirits want, huh? A holiday? A pay raise? Let me tell you, spirits are too far gone to really want anything, especially vengeful spirits, okay? They’re just angry and mad and let it out on anyone they come across.” 

“But they aren’t vengeful,” was all Mina managed to say before Doris bustled into the room. She carried a tray with a steaming pot of tea, a mug, and a hot water bottle. 

“Drop it, both of you,” she said as she shuffled past them and sat the tray down on the bedside table. She reached into the pocket of her apron, producing an in-ear thermometer which she handed over to Dean and took up the hot water bottle. She lifted the covers and placed it near Sam’s feet. He groaned, shaking uncontrollably and the only reason he wasn’t moving his head from side to side was because of Dean holding it in place with one hand and the thermometer to his ear with his other. 

“It’s not warm,” he whined, kicking with his feet to get the bottle away from him. “I need warm. I’m so cold. I want my mother.” 

Mina saw Dean swallow hard and blinked back the tears. Seeing Sam - tall, strong and gentle Sam – so helpless, it tore at her heart. His skin had turned even more pallid and his lips now started to look blue.

A quiet beep sounded and Doris spoke up, “What’s the temperature say?” 

“35,2 degrees,” Dean replied, put the device down on the other bedside table and reached for his brother's hand underneath the covers. “Is it bad?” 

“His body temperature is dropping which isn’t good. But it’s not too bad, yet. Tell me what happened,” Doris said. 

Mina, standing forlorn at the foot of the bed, jumped right in. Trying to relay all the relevant information with as few words as possible, she told Doris how the ghost boy had sped toward Sam and gone right through him, engulfing him in a cloud of smoke and disappeared. 

“And did he do this just like that or…did something trigger it?” 

“I…well, it was my fault,” Mina went on, catching Dean’s glare out of the corner of her eyes. She swallowed and tried to ignore it for the moment to go on, “I thought I saw something between the boy and the woman. I told them not to hurt us; that we wanted to help but didn’t know how.” 

Doris nodded but it was Dean who said, “Are you really sure you saw something? Or is it just you projecting your own feelings of loss and loneliness and wanting a family onto those ghosts?” 

Mina’s head snapped up and she stared daggers at Dean as the familiar feeling of anger bubbled up inside her. How dare he say that after she had trusted him with practically her whole life story? 

Yet, at the same time, in the back of her mind, some of the many loose ends started to connect and her eyes widened.

“That’s it,” she exclaimed although she wasn’t quite sure if she could express what was being so clear in her head. In her excitement, she leaned forward. Her hand searching for a grip on the footboard of the bed but finding Sam’s toes instead. Flinching from the cold of his skin, she pulled her hand back as Sam moaned and practically shouted, “Do it again!”

Hesitating for only a second, Mina placed her hand on top of his foot. They were freezing cold but Sam sighed loudly, saying in a strained voice, “Oh god, it’s warm. I need more, please.” 

He was still shivering but seemed a little more alert and he pushed his other foot nearer to Mina’s hand trying to absorb as much warmth as possible. Staring at her hand on his foot –her skin on his – something clicked into place in her head. 

She found Sam’s gaze and said, “I’m sorry, Sam but it’s only for a minute.” With that, she lifted her hand away and toed off her shoes before unbuttoning her jeans. Sam whined, the shaking once more increasing as Dean’s eyes widened and he jumped up off the chair.

“What the hell are you doing?” 

“I’m getting into bed with Sam,” she replied matter of fact, her voice firm despite the slight blush coloring her cheeks as she threw her pants to the side and continued to pull off her socks. 

Dean opened his mouth to speak but closed it again right away. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, scrunching up his nose then his eyes widened and he held up his hands, saying, “Really? Do you think now’s the time for that?” 

“Oh, come on! To keep him warm, dumbass. Get your thoughts out of the gutter,” Mina retaliated and threw her socks to the side. 

“Oh,” Dean said, his eyebrows rising along with his understanding. “Oh, of course. He can feel your body heat.” 

Mina nodded and within two strides was next to the bed and took off her tank top. Sam almost threw the covers aside and the second she was next to him, he literally wrapped himself around her, emphasizing how much he needed the warmth. The sounds he was making, in any other setting, would’ve meant something very different. Here, they just pointed out how dire the situation had been – and probably still was. 

“So, Sam can’t feel my body heat because….” The older hunter interrupted himself, trying to find Mina’s gaze.

But Sam chose that moment to pull her even closer, his hold on her like a vice and she wheezed. “Sam, you’re crushing me.” 

“I’m sorry but it’s…it’s not warm enough,” he mumbled against her neck. She felt the tremors still running through his body and the coldness emanating from his cloth-covered upper arm. And it dawned on her: when they’d put him in bed, they had only pulled off his shoes and socks. He was still wearing his t-shirt and jeans and for this to work….

“Sam, look at me,” she said, trying to get him to lift his head and slowly, reluctantly he did. Mina framed it with her hands, brushing some of his disheveled hair from his face and focused on his eyes. The desperation she saw there tore at her heart. He didn’t deserve this. It should’ve been her. That thought made it easy to ignore everything else – especially the fact that Dean and Doris were in the same room watching. Willing a soft smile onto her face, she said, “Listen to me, Sam. You…you need to take off your shirt and jeans.”

“No.” At once, he shook his head. “I’m not letting you go. I need to feel warm.” And she felt his hold on her start to tighten again. She kept his head framed in her hands, sliding a thumb across his cheek. 

“I promise you, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stay right here. In fact, I’ll keep one hand on you the whole time. But for this to work – we…we have to be skin on skin, okay?” 

“Skin on skin?” he repeated.   
“Yes. I think your clothes don’t let through enough of my body heat.” 

His movements were slow and flabby when he sat up and started with his shirt. The shivering seemed to take a lot of his strength and concentration away but eventually, his clothes were off. He flopped back onto the bed, lying on his side and Mina scooted in behind him, her front against his back. She put one arm around him, pulling herself closer and propped up her head with a second pillow and her free arm. The tremors of his body slowly decreased to soft shivers and soon after they stopped. His breathing evened out and she felt him relax.

Dean had meanwhile pulled another chair around for Doris. This whole situation felt completely bizarre but the fact that Sam had acted more like a scared child had made it a little easier. 

“Do you…do you think it’s working?” Dean asked, addressing Mina who nodded. 

“I think so,” she replied. “He’s completely stopped shivering and his skin doesn’t feel as cold anymore.”

“We’ll take his temperature again in a little while, to be sure,” Doris spoke up and Dean nodded. 

“This then brings us back to why Sam is responding to Mina’s body heat but wasn’t to yours,” Doris continued, placing a hand on Dean’s arm. “Well, it’s what you said before: wanting a family. That little boy was torn forcefully from his mother – the only family he had left. And as far as I can tell when his ghost went through Sam….”

“…he left something of himself behind,” Dean finished, nodding his head. “Like…like an echo.” 

“I think so, yes,” Doris agreed. “It’s my belief that…this ghost boy’s echo, as you put it, completely disregards the blood relation between you and Sam. Its focus is solely on male or female.”

“You’re right, Doris,” Sam said, his voice sounding hoarse. He cleared his throat and added, “Now that I’m not too busy with freezing, I…I know his thoughts and feelings. Kind of. They…they subdued him to wall him in and when he woke up, it was dark and cold and…all he could think of was his mother; longing for her warmth, her embrace.” 

He coughed here and Dean was quick to give him some of the tea. It was clear that he was exhausted, yet he sounded much more like himself again and they all breathed a sigh of relief. This could’ve turned out so much worse. 

“How that first victim died…it was how that little boy died. He had no water, no food, and no light. He didn’t know where his mother was but he wanted her back so badly. He kept scratching at those rough stones until his fingertips were gone, all the time calling out for his mother. There was never an answer and no way out. He didn’t know but I do that the dehydration made him more and more delusional and he…he heard his mother’s voice telling him to…. And he did.” 

He didn’t need to say it, they all understood. Mina couldn’t suppress the shivers of horror running through her; couldn’t imagine what that poor little boy had had to go through. And she felt bad for Sam having to see all of this in his mind; having to feel it. She gave his arm a gentle squeeze and was taken aback when he took hold of her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. 

She was very glad that the covers hid this interaction from Doris and Dean’s view, as harmless as it was. And she was doubly glad that her cheeks had been flushed this whole time due to the heat of the blankets so her blush went unnoticed.

“What happened to the mother? Do we know?” Dean asked. 

“I might be able to shed some light onto that,” Doris spoke up. “That’s why I tried to call you several times. The legend only tells us that she was locked up. But in those records I tried to decipher I found something. I almost skipped it because it started off with describing the coming along of the construction. But after a few sentences that worker wrote about seeing a woman lingering near the wall on several days, from dawn to dusk. There is no date, no indication if it was before or after the boy was walled in which might explain why it was overlooked. I probably wouldn’t have given this much thought either if I hadn’t previously, on another page, deciphered the entry, ’Today we found a dead woman in the stone pit’.” 

She paused here and sighed deeply. “From here on out everything is speculation on my part, but I’m sure that this second ghost – the woman – is the boy’s mother.”

“It makes sense,” Dean said. “Mina, didn’t this female ghost call out ‘my heart’ and the boy immediately stopped?”

“He did.” It was Sam who answered. He turned onto his back and Mina saw that he was keeping his eyes firmly shut as if listening in on himself. Soft quivers ran through him and she quickly repositioned herself, placing her head on his shoulder and felt his arm wrap around her back and waist, pulling her closer. 

“There…there’s more,” he said in a breathy voice. “His ghost is trapped, I think. It can’t leave the castle grounds. The battlement wall keeps him in.” 

“The wall,” Dean and Mina said almost simultaneously, their gazes meeting and their eyes widening. Dean had leaned forward in his seat while Mina had propped herself up on an elbow due to the excitement. Everything inside her was tingling with the prospect of having maybe, possibly, hopefully, solved this mystery. 

“You noticed it, too?” Mina asked, “That the female ghost appeared behind the wall and stayed there?” 

“I did,” Dean said, nodding. “She hovered there but never even attempted to cross over the wall.” 

“That’s it,” Doris said, clasping her hands. “That’s their unfinished business. The battlement wall is like a barrier between mother and son – just as it was when they were alive. It’s keeping them apart and neither one wants to leave without the other.” 

There it was. They had figured it out. Mina released a deep sigh, calmness washing over her at what they had accomplished. With the chaos of the past hour or so, it still surprised her that they had really done it; that they had solved the ‘why’ of it. Now all they needed to figure out was…. Her face fell and she felt her stomach drop. They hadn’t figured it out. At least not all of it.

She felt Sam’s hand rub lightly along the small of her back and found his gaze, his hazel eyes questioningly studying her own. “Are you okay, Mina?” 

“I…yes, but…how are we going to…finish them off? Make them leave for good?” 

Yet, before the mood could really drop, Doris spoke up, “We’ll worry about that tomorrow.” She got up and walked over to the door. “It’s been a long day and we’ve earned a rest. Let’s all get some sleep.” Her eyes landed on the older hunter who had settled back into the chair. Her eyebrows rose as she prompted, “That means you, too, Dean.”

“I…well, I’ll get some here,” he said, sitting up straight under Doris’ stern glance. “I’m not leaving Sam….” 

“No need to worry, Dean. I’ll stay with him,” Mina assured, sending him a smile. “We’re not taking any chances here.” 

Dean still hesitated and Mina was able to feel the concern for his brother radiating off of him so that she reassured him again, telling him he’d be the first to know if anything happened. Reluctantly he nodded and bid them good night, leaving the room along with Doris. 

“He’s so pigheaded sometimes,” Sam sighed.

“No, he’s just worried about you,” Mina said and seeing Sam’s jaw clench, she added, “Can you reach the thermometer? Let’s see what your temperature says.” 

Smirking at her tactic to quickly change the subject, he picked it up from the bedside table. Mina took it, made him turn his head and put it to his ear. 

“How do you feel?” she asked, holding the device in place as he minimally turned his head to meet her gaze. 

“Much better but tired,” he said and lifted one hand. He brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek. “Thank you. For doing this.” 

“Don’t mention it.” Mina felt the heat on her face due to his intense gaze and had to avert her eyes. That they settled on his collar bone and unbidden shifted to the very visible dent where is neck met his shoulder, didn’t help at all. She swallowed hard and her voice sounded throaty when she said, “It was my fault so this is the least I can do.” 

His hand on her cheek forced her to look at him and take in his gentle smile. “None of this was your fault, Mina. You couldn’t foresee what the ghosts would do and moreover, if this hadn’t happened, we’d have never figured it out so fast. So, whatever you do, don’t blame yourself. I don’t.” 

She was smiling despite her blush deepening and brought up her free hand to his head, letting her fingers run softly through his hair. She felt his fingers curl against the skin of her cheek. Was he…trying to pull her closer? Slowly, she started to lean in. Her heart pounded in her chest and her eyelids began to flutter.

Beeping sounded from her left. Her eyes opened and they stared at each other for mere seconds before both pointedly averted their eyes and cleared their throats. Mina removed the thermometer from his ear. 

“35,9,” she read and nodded, putting the device down on the table at her end. “This is really good. It’s almost back to normal.” 

“Great,” he said, nodding. “So, uhm…let’s get some sleep, huh?” 

Mina sighed, nodded her head and settled on her side, facing away from him, willing the telltale blush to go away; willing herself to stay calm. She breathed in and out several times, then turned and scooted closer to him again. After all, he still needed to share her body heat, just in case. Sending her another warm smile, he pulled her into his side so that her head rested on his shoulder and reached for the switch to turn out the light. 

“Good night, Mina.” 

“Good night, Sam.”


	7. Part 7

Mina woke to a pair of arms wrapping around her and pulling her back against a warm and very solid chest. Her eyes widened as her still drowsy mind tried to catch up with what was going on. 

Sunlight streamed into the room through the window and the air seemed thick and stale. And then it came to her: she was sharing a bed with Sam because of what had happened in the castle grounds last night. She felt the heat on her cheeks, only adding to her overall feeling of too hot, too sweaty and too sticky. 

As gently and quietly as she could, Mina loosened Sam’s hold on her. He stirred and, with a sigh, turned onto his other side but didn’t wake. Mina took a moment to simply look at him. He seemed relaxed in his deep sleep, his torso moving with the even breaths he took. His skin was warm to the touch, the color having returned to it and there was no trace of shivering. Resisting the urge to run her fingers through his hair, she slipped from the bed and walked over to the window. 

As she opened it, a slight breeze drifted inside, ruffling the curtains and she closed her eyes breathing in the fresh air. The sunlight tickled her skin, the breeze lifting the strands of hair that had escaped from her braid so that they lightly brushed against her cheeks and neck. And for a while, she simply stood there enjoying the peace and quiet; once more thanking the powers that be for Sam’s quick recovery and that it hadn’t taken a turn for the worse. Heaving a deep sigh, she eventually turned and upon opening her eyes, found Sam’s gaze on herself. She froze.

His hair was tousled, his eyes still small from sleep and a slight frown was etched onto his forehead. He had propped himself up on one arm and slight color spread on his face, a soft smile appearing a second later and Mina felt a tingle in her stomach. 

“Good morning,” he said, his voice husky and rough, sending a shiver down Mina’s spine. She pressed her lips together and forced them into a small smile.

“Hey.” She licked her lower lip and pulled it briefly between her teeth. “Did you sleep okay?”

“I slept like a log,” he replied, sitting up further. “I hope you did, too.”

“Yeah, I did,” she said and just then realized that she was only wearing panties and bra. It was pure reflex when her arms came up to cover as much of herself as possible. At the same time, she averted her eyes, focusing on the blankets covering his legs and to divert the focus to something else, she asked, “How do you feel?”

“I feel fine,” he said as the sheets started to move. There was a slight creak of the bedsprings and then footsteps sounded. Seconds later, his bare feet appeared in her line of vision and she felt his large hands settle on her shoulders. 

“None of that after what we’ve been through together, especially last night, okay?”, he said and softly ran his hands down her arms, making her loosen her hold on herself. One hand took hold of her hip and with gentle fingers of his other hand, he reached for her chin, lifting her head so that her gaze met his. “I’m pretty sure we’ve moved past bashful.” 

Beams of light reflected in his eyes adding a sparkle to them and as a smile curved his lips, the laugh lines around his eyes crinkling ever so slightly, Mina couldn’t help but smile as well. 

“Pretty sure, huh?” she repeated his earlier words, in spite of the blush on her cheeks and heard him chuckle, felt it even as she placed her hands on his stomach. His skin was warm and soft, maybe a little sticky from sweat; the muscles firm underneath. Her fingers skimmed higher, his muscles tensing under her touch, his eyes growing darker by the second.

“You do feel fine,” she breathed and could’ve smacked her forehead the second those words had slipped out. But instead of the chuckle she had expected, a low growl left his lips. The hand on her chin slid across her cheek to the back of her head, bringing her face closer to his and his grip on her hip tightened to pull her closer. His warmth seeped into her, she breathed in his male, slightly woodsy scent as her gaze swiveled back and forth between his eyes and his lips. Her hands slid up over his pecs, to his shoulders and to the nape of his neck. She lifted up onto her toes and both of them leaned in at the same time. Her eyes fluttered shut. 

“Hey sleepyheads, time to….” 

Sam and Mina startled at the sound of the voice but didn’t let go of one another completely. When they turned their heads, they found Dean leaning against the doorframe, one eyebrow raised, arms crossed in front of his chest and a smirk playing around his lips. 

“Am I interrupting something?” he asked.

Mina’s first impulse was to deny and protest upon feeling the telltale heat on her cheeks. But the smug expression on his face and the way he looked at them, almost as if he dared her to go ahead and deny it, led her to reconsider. 

“Of course you are, Dean and you know exactly what you just interrupted,” she said. His grin faltered slightly which, in turn, made her lips from into a smirk of her own. She heard Sam’s raspy chuckle just as Dean seemed to have found his wits again. 

“Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do,” he said, holding up his hands in a placating way. “And it’s not that I begrudge you it but…right now might not be the best of times, you know? We got work to do, remember?” 

“Well, when he’s right…,” Sam started, a soft sigh leaving his lips and she felt the brief press of his fingers on her hip. She found his gaze, smiling up at him and nodded. 

“Yeah, he is,” she breathed and on impulse, she cupped his cheek with one hand, letting her thumb trace along his cheekbone. She pushed up onto her toes and placed a kiss on his other cheek before pulling away from him and leaving the room. 

\-----

Several hours later, the kitchen table was cluttered. While Sam and Dean sat in front of a laptop each searching the internet, Mina was poring over books and papers Doris had brought in at varying intervals. Most of them were in German which was why neither Sam nor Dean could be of any help. 

Mina brought a hand up to her temple to carefully rub at it, trying to soothe the growing headache. Her eyes were narrowed, her face pinched and she felt the stiffness of her shoulders increase. 

Footsteps alerted them to another presence and they all looked up in time to see Doris enter the kitchen, another pile of books in her arms. Mina groaned at the sight of even more work and leaned back in her chair, rubbing at her tired eyes and massaging her neck. Sam met her gaze from across the table, a small smile directed at her which she returned. 

Doris proceeded to place the book pile on the table. The whole surface was now covered with papers, books, and scrolls. Yet, it wasn’t the number of books that gave Mina a headache but the fact that most of them were written in an old German script called Sütterlin and being as unaccustomed to it as she was, the reading was tedious work. 

“What do we have?” Doris wanted to know, breaking the silence and once more drawing all eyes to her.

“I got jack squat,” Dean sighed, leaning back in his seat away from the table and with it from the laptop he’d been working on. “There’s like a million sites with fake rituals and spells out there. It’s impossible.” 

“You don’t know if they’re fake,” Mina said, heaving a sigh and finding Dean’s gaze. He raised one eyebrow, his features forming into a trademark ‘no shit’ expression and tilted his head a little to one side. 

“Oh, come on,” he exclaimed. “You can’t seriously think all of those rituals work.” 

“No, probably not all but some might,” Mina said, a grin coming to her lips before she had to cover up a yawn with one hand. “But you’re still right. That leaves us with exactly nothing since it’s impossible to tell which of them might work.” 

“Yeah,” Sam chimed in without looking up from the screen of his laptop. “And we’ve got no time to find out.” 

“Okay, let’s go over this again,” Doris started but Mina heaved a sigh and shook her head. 

“We’ve gone over it a thousand times. We need to somehow break the barrier between mother ghost and son ghost and hope this will make them leave.” 

“Fine,” Doris said, “we’ll just have to keep on looking.” And with that she left, heading back to the living room to probably try and dig up even more books. The thought alone made Mina groan again. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands. 

“I need a break,” she eventually said, stood up and stretched out her back. Grabbing a water from the fridge, she added, “I’ll be outside to stretch my legs.”

“Hang on, I’ll join you.” Dean got up as well, taking two bottles of beer from the fridge. “Sammy? You comin’, too?” He held out the second bottle to his brother who was still focused on the screen. 

“What?” He looked up briefly and shook his head. “No, I’ll stay. I’m fine. You two go.” And he turned back to his laptop without so much as a glance at Mina. She sighed and turned, noticing from the corner of her eyes how Dean sat the bottle down next to Sam’s laptop. She made her way out of the kitchen, through the hall and to the front door, footfalls telling her that Dean was right behind her. 

Once outside, she took a deep breath. Luckily the breeze hadn’t died down and while it was still hot, it was more bearable than it had been those past days. Mina started to the right and Dean fell into step beside her. They walked in silence, rounding the corner of the main house and soon came upon the ruins of what had once been a stable. The timber-frame structure was in dire need of repair and part of the roof had caved in. But what remained of the building still provided some shade. 

There was an old tethering pole and Mina draped her arms over it, facing the cracked wall and decaying wooden beams. She noticed Dean leaning his back against the pole next to her, propping up one arm on the crossbar. 

“So,” he started, breaking the silence. “You and Sam, huh?” 

Mina blew out a breath and rolled her eyes, throwing him a sideways glance and shook her head. “Really? We going to go there?” She raised one eyebrow at him. 

“Nope, we’re not,” he said quickly, his gaze moving away from her to the dusty ground. “I’m just sayin’…we won’t stick around for long.”

Mina chuckled, then nodded. “I know that,” she replied and heaved a sigh. “I know how this works, so don’t fret.”

“I’m not. I’m simply telling you.” He lifted his eyes back to her, nodded once. “By the way, what you did for Sammy last night…thank you, Mina.” 

The change of his tone of voice made her turn toward him, both her eyebrows rose and her head tilted a little to the right. “Are you…apologizing?” 

“I’m thanking you,” he said, his eyes focusing straight on hers. “You still screwed up last night but…you fixed it. And that’s all I’m gonna say on that.” 

Mina nodded and dropped her gaze, turning back to face the stable wall again. It was hard to get the older hunter, despite the fact that she’d known him for all of three days. But she could tell that underneath the hardened shell lay a fiercely loyal and caring heart. In everything he’d done and said, the need and the will to watch out for his brother was evident. He wanted to make sure he was alright; wanted to keep him safe. She could understand that; envied it even a little. 

With a small smile to her lips, she nudged his arm with her shoulder and said, “You’re a good man, Dean Winchester.” 

And without waiting for his reply – not that she expected one – she pushed away from the pole and started back to the main house. Once again, he fell into step with her and they reached the front door side by side. 

“Alright,” he spoke as he held the door open for her. “Let’s find something to send those ghosts on their way. And if not…well, we’ll just have to break down a wall, huh?”  
Mina froze right on the doorstep. It was like a light bulb had switched on inside her head. Something had clicked, connecting another one of those loose ends. Her eyes widened as she turned to Dean, beaming and a smile spreading. 

“That’s it,” she exclaimed as she literally bounced on the balls of her feet. “That’s the solution. You’re a genius, Dean.” She dashed off toward the kitchen, yelling for Doris and leaving Dean standing at the door, puzzled. His forehead furrowed, hand still on the handle. 

“Okay,” he eventually said to himself and shrugged, stepped inside and pushed the door closed. “Apparently, I’m a genius.” But he couldn’t suppress the small smile as he made his way over to join the others in the kitchen.


End file.
